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No. 624,057. Patented May 2, |899.

A H. W. LOCKE. REVERSIBLE BACK FUR CAMERAS.

(Application led Feb. 11, 1899.)

(No Modal.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEs HARVEY lV. LOOKE, OF ROCHESTER, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO lVILLlAM E. CARLTON, OF SAME PLACE.

REVERSIBLE BACK FOR CAMERAS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 624,057, dated May 2, 1899,.

' Application filed February ll, 1899. Serial No. 705,290. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern/.-

Be it known' that l, HARVEY XV. LOCKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rochester7 in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reversible Backs for Photographic Cameras, of which the following is a speeiiication.

The class ot photographic cameras to which this invention relates is characterized by the employment to support the holder` for the sensitive plate or film of what is known as a reversible back, said back consisting, essentially, of an equal-sided hollow frame which is secu red by temporary fasteners to the body of the camera in such manner that the said frame (or back) can be attached or detached at will and can be attached with a given edge, either horizontal or vertical, as may be desired.

It is `most usual to take photographs on elongated plates or Iilms, and the reversibility of the back venables both horizontal picturesthat is, pictures whose width exceeds their height-and vertical pictures-that is, pictures whose height exceeds their width-to be taken by the same camera by shifting the back `without requiring the position ot' the body of the camera to be changed. To turn the camera bodily over onto its side would in many cases be objectionable, particularly in the case of a bellows camera mounted on a tripod and fastened thereto, as is customary.

The reversible back is secured to an equalsided hollow 'frame forming part of the camera-body. The last-mentioned frame is herein called the camera-box to distinguish it from the reversible back. In the form of camera more particularly included in the invention said camera-box forms part of a shallow case in which the front or lens-bearing portion of the 4camera and the bellows are housed when the instrument is closed; but the said box may, without exceeding the limits of the invention, form part of a case of greater depth, so as to house the camera-'front when the instrument is in use and, if desired, so as also to take the place of the bellows, or it may, still within the limits of the inventogether by the aid of movable catches of thin fiat material, (sheet metal, in fact,) which are so mounted on one of said frames (most advantageously on the camera-box) as to lie in the plane of the camera-back and to move in said plane and which engage in retainingrecesses on one or other of adjacent sides of the other frame, according` to the position of the camera-back-thatis to say, the recesses on one of said sides are engaged by thesaid movable catches when the said back is in one position and those on the adjacent side when the said back is reversed. The said movable catches may be one or more in number. There must of course be duplicate recesses for each catch to be engaged thereby in turn, according to the position of the back. This statement is applicable not only to the invention, as above specified, but to the further improvements or combinations hereinafter set forth. One such further improvement consists in forming the reversible back with a rabbeted edge, so as to leave a projecting margin around-the equal-sided anterior portion which lits inside ofthe eorrespondingly-shaped open end of the camera-box, the duplicate retaining-recesses being formed in the edges of said anterior portion and the movable ilat catches lying and moving in the plane of said anterior portieri of the back. A third improvement consists in placing the flat movable catches (which lie and move in the plane of the back) in the joint between the rear edge of the camera-box and the overlapping margin of the rabbeted reversible back, so that vwhen the back is in place the outlines of the catches are blended, as it were, with the outlines of the back and the box and the narvisible.

The invention also comprises the special constructions,improvemeuts,orcombinations hereinafter set forth.

V'ihe accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, illustrate what is considered the best inode ot carrying the in vention into effect.

ln the drawings, Figure l is a rear view of the camera-box. Fig. 2 is a front view of thel reversible back, partlybrolten away. Fig. 3 is a view in section through the box and back, showingthem united. Fig. i is a perspective view, partly in section, of one corner of the camera-box on an enlarged scale. Fig. 5 is a sectional view, on aI large scale, of a portion of the camera-box. Fig. (3 is a rear view of a portion of the camera-box, showing one of the movable catches on a large scale. Figs. 7 and S are respectively a perspective and a sectional view of a portion ot the reversible bach; and Fig. i) is a sectional view of another portion of the reversible back, the section being in the plane of Fig. 3, which plane is at right angles to that of Fig. S.

The hollow frames constituting', respectively, the camera-box A and the back B are square, (equal-sided.) The back ll carries the means for supporting the h older for the sensitive plate or tilm. These means may be ot' any known or suitable description; but it is an advantage and an essential element of one of the special constructions, improve ments, or combinations hereinabove referred to that the back should be provided with projecting guides on its posterior face for receiving between them the holder ofthe sensitive plate or film. Such guides are shown at 2. The said holder maybe retained between said guides by a spring-actuated device carrying the ground-glass screen and so arranged that the plate or tilm holder can be slid between the said device and the back ot the camera. Holder-supporting means of this description are known and do not require any particular explanation. The receding device, therefore, is not shown; but at C is shown one of the spring-actuated levers to which said device is pivoted. At 3 is the not-ch for receiving the pivots, at et the fulcrum of the lever, and at 5 a spiral compression-spring interposed between the lever and the camera-back, so that it tends to press inward the end of the lever C, which carries said receding device. If the plate or ilm holder should be slipped endwise in to the space between the guides 9, the device carried by the levers C will recede, (or, in other words, be moved away by the holder, which enters between the camerabacl; and the said device.) lVhen the holder has been fully inserted, it is arrested by the stop G.

To retain the back B in the camera-boxA, use is made of thin at catches D, which lie in the plane of the said back, when this is in position, and are movable in said plane, and ot' duplicate retaining-recesses E E on adjacent sides of the corresponding frame, so

that for vertical (tall) pictures the catchesD engage the recesses E, while for horizontal (broad) pictures the same catches D engage the recesses E. In connection with the movable catches itis advantageous and an element of another ofthe special constructions, improvcments,and combinations hereinabove referred to to use also fixed catches, as shown at D, duplicate retaining-recesses being provided for these as for the movable catches.

The square back B is formed with a rabbeted edge, so as to leave a projecting niargin 9 around the equal-sided anterior portion 7, which lits the correspondingly-shaped,inside S of the camera-box A. Said margin 9 covers the edge l0 of the box when the back is in place. The duplicate reta-iningi'ecesses E E are formed in the edges of the said anterior portion 'Zand the catches D D are mounted opposite the same on the camera-box A. Each .of the movable catches D is composed ot a fiat piece of metal hinged at il and limited by a screw l2, which passes through a slot i3. The same is placedin joint between the rear edge l0 of the camera-box A and the overlapping margin 9 of the rabbeted reversible back B, so that when therbacl; is in place the outlines of the narrow exposed edge ot the catch are hardly noticeable. In Fig. l the rear face of each catch D is shown exposed, and this face is next the margin 9 of the back.

Two movable catches D and two fixed catches Dare shown; butno particular number is essential. The conjoint use of ixed and movable catches is useful in diminishing the number of catches requiring manipulation, while giving equal security.

In order to apply the back for vertical (tall) pictures, the front 7 is inserted in the end S of the camera-box by first slipping the recesses E at one edge of the back over the fixed catches D as the back is inserted. At this time the movable catches D are withdrawn, (the left-hand catch D in Fig. l is in the withdrawn pesitioin) so as not to interfere with the insertion of the back. The catches D are then engaged in the corresponding recesses Ein order to hold the back firmly in place. For horizontal (broad) pictures the catches D are withdrawn, the back is removed and reversed, (turnech) and is reapplied with the catches D D' engaging the recesses E'. The metal plates lare to strengthen the back, particularly the retaining-walls of the recesses E E. These recesses (which form the hasps ofthe catches D D) might of course be formed by such plates merely by letting the latter into the back, or the said recesses (orhasps) might be made in any suitable way.

I claim as my invention or discoveryl. In combination with the equal-sided hollow frames, one carrying the means for supporting a plate or film holder so as to constitute the reversible back of a photographic camera and the other frame forming part of the body of the camera, movable catches of IOO IIO

sheet metal mounted on one of said frames so as to lie and to move in the plane of the camera-back and engaging different retaining-recesses according to the position of said baclzjthe frame i 1th said recesses havin g them on adjacent sides, so that whether a given side of the said back is vertical or horizontal suitable recesses will be presented forengaging said catches, substantially as described.

2. In combination with an equal-sided hollow t rame constituting the camera-box, a hole low frame constituting the camera-back with its edge rabbeted to-leave a projecting margin around the equal-sided anterior portion which fits inside the open end oi the said box, and movable catches ot sheet metal mounted on the said camera-box so as to lie and to move in the plane of said back, this latter being provided on said anterior portion with retaining-recesses on adjacent sides of the same, for making said back reversible, substantially as described.

In combination with the square box of a photographic camera, and a rabbeted square back provided with retaining-recesses on adjacent sides of the equal-sided anterior portion of said bach which iits inside thevsaid box and also with a margin to cover the rear edge of said box, a movable catch of sheet metal lying in the plane ol said back in the joint between the said rear edge of said box and the said margin of said back, substantially as described.

4. In combination with the hollow equal sided frames constituting respectively the camera-box and the back which supports the holder for the sensitive plate or film, fixed catches mounted on said box to lie in the plane of said back, and movable catches of sheet metal so mounted on said box as to move as well as to lie in the plane of said back, this latter being provided on adjacent sides thereof with retaining-recesses for both sorts of catches, substantially as described.

5. In combination with the equal-sided camera-box, and movable sheet-metal catches lying and moving in the plane of the cameraback, a camera-back in the form of. a hollow frame with its edge rabbeted to leave an anterior equal-sided portion which 'fits into said box, said back being provided on said anterior portion with duplicate retaining-recesses for the said catches and with projecting guides on the posterior portion for receiving between them the plate or iilm holder, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HARVEY IV. IOCKE. Witnesses:

J. M. WALMSLEY, FRED K. TowNsnND. 

